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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Show Announcements »

Permalink Pollo Del Mar Hype Machine

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Can someone cut and paste onto this thread for those of us at work that have the blog website blocked?

Danny Snyder

Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

FD
Tuesday night in Varedo, north of Milan.
What can you say about a travel day? The Pollos gathered at SF International at 1PM, waited in line, waited in another line, waited in a third line and got on a plane to Paris. The stewardesses brought a round of champagne, and we toasted to our newest adventure. Hard to say how completely giddy four 40 year old guys can get, but we were very happy and excited to be leaving. Air France has great food, but crappy movies... Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owens and something in French that I put on my eye-shades and ear hat and dozed through. The Simpsons episode was great. Air France poured wine, apartifs, and more wine, but no water, it was very dry. Night came and went very quickly, and after 10 hours we touched down at Charles DeGaulle.

July 14, Bastille Day, and we are in the Paris airport with no chance to join the French in their revelry. DeGaulle is an amazing and beautiful airport. It took us a full 25 minutes to walk from our arrival terminal to our departure terminal. And then, oddly, after we walked down the jetport, we boarded a bus and were shuttled right back over to the terminal we had just left to catch our plane to Milan. After take off I got a view of downtown Paris and I could clearly see the Eifel Tower before we entered the cloud cover. A very long wait for luggage, Jeff's bass case the last bag to arrive.

Our man Lorenzo meets us outside the gate. He is not that familiar with the Milan airport so we stumble around to find our van, which is a most excellent FIAT, and is already filled with drums and amps. The first word we learn in Italian is "caldo" which means hot- moto caldo.

We load into the van and figure out a plan. Since we don't have a gig tonight, we don't really have a plan. Rush hour traffic is awful and Lorenzo's new GPS isn't much help, Jeff is convinced we are going in circles. We took turns nodding off in the van while we were stuck in traffic. Our goal was to find a hotel for the night near a restaurant that is a favorite gig spot of Lorenzo's, The Millwakee 50's Diner (Slacktone will stop here in September, but it is completely empty and dead during the summer months). As we pulled into a first hotel, Lorenzo told us a humorous story of Los Straijackets going all mud-shark at this place- the hotel told us they were sold out, but perhaps they didn't want Lorenzo's repeat business.

We found another hotel in Varedo, which is somewhere north of Milan. The motel is very nice, but clearly a place that is happy to service lovers as the rooms are available in 4 or 6 hour stays. The rooms also features mood lights that cycle through a pastel color wheel and the wonderful prefab showers that have 5 choices of water jet selection, not to mention a few channels of hard core porn. There is a little problem when we get our rooms as "doble" means a double bed, not two beds. A hot shower took the half inch thick layer of airplane scum and I felt like a new man. We met up to go to the diner, which is a near copy of Max' diner in SF, or any 50s style diner in the US, except that the owners are clearly serious fans of rockabilly, and the music playing over the PA is very obscure 50s, until the Michael Jackson tribute video comes on, but by then we are ready to leave. Someday we will have Italian food, but tonight we have cheeseburgers and Belgian beer. The owner offers us a round of drinks, so Jono orders a rum and coke, made with Cuban rum. Very nice.

Back to the love hotel for sleep, which comes quickly after being awake for 32 hours straight.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

FD
Wednesday night in Alesandria, Italy
I am sitting in the Four Bears bar in Alesandria, which could be any Irish bar on Geary Street in SF- the worn wood walls and plaid curtains, Irish beer of course, though I go for German Hefeviesen to go with American Rodeo on TV and Irish punk rock on the PA. The food is finally Italian, prosciutto with melon and pasta.

The drive from Milan took less than two hours, though there was some traffic at the start. Once we were past the city, the scenery became pastoral, mountains in the distance, closer hills topped by ancient villas, not quite castles. WE parked in Alesandria central square which looks to be the perfect size for a soccer pitch or anti-war rally, but is now paved over with timed parking. We had about 4 hours to kill before we could check into our hotel so we walked around the central square. As is the way in Italy, the place is nearly deserted at mid-day. We chowed (not ciao'd) on foccacia pizzas, and strolled around. I must have taken over 100 pictures, just the perfect Italian experience. Shuttered windows, weathered walls, laundry lines strung between buildings, harsh light casting flat shadows noon. While the other guys had coffee, Jeremy and I found an abandoned school compound, mature trees growing through the clay tile roofs, colorful graffiti on the bricks, the rotten mortar spilling out from between the blocks. Our exploration continued for another couple hours, every turn a new alley just as picturesque as the one before.

At 4:30 we moved into our hotel (Arco Balano "Rainbow"), an unbelievably romantic place with purple flowers growing up the walls and hanging over the trellis. Too bad I have to share the bed with Jeff and not my wife. Jono, Jeff and I ran through some songs as we sat in the open air lobby. Then Jono took a stroll, and then I did. I was looking for a grocery store, but ended up back at the central square, which had now cooled off 10 degrees, and was completely packed with people, sipping coffee and beer and shopping, shopping, shopping. I passed this club and got a look in. It's great that it is so close to our hotel. Also, I found the grocery which was about 30 meters from our hotel. Duh. By the time I got back, it was time to go. Although we were close, we had to drive in a few circles to get there.

We loaded in and got our first look at Lorenzo's gear. Fender has sponsored him, so he has two new Twins and a SWR 550X head a 4-10 cab. Jeremy's playing a Mapex kit. Our set starts in about 15 minutes...

+++++++

OK, great show, we worked hard, but having a fun audience inspired us. I met Dr. Legume (from SG101, he will also be performing at the Surfer Joe Festival) and his wife. It was their 20th Anniversary, and they had some friends with them, so there was lots of dancing. I was worried about the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida" recently added to our wet. If it didn't go over well tonight, I was going to ax it from the set. But the continental audience instantly recognized it and if I may say, really dug it. I don't expect it to be too popular with Americans, because even though it was a huge radio hit, who listens to the radio? The crowd seemed to put up with our psychedelic stuff, but definitely preferred the faster, surfier stuff. We had a couple rough spots but overall it was very satisfying. Salvatore, the club owner really liked us and gave us Ts. Finally I have something to wear on St.Patrick's Day.

1 down, 11 to go!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Thursday's events are now posted-
http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
I met Christophe from the BahHaReeBas (Switzerland's best and only surf band!) last night. There were tranny hookers out side the club. Yea Europe!

Lorenzo has been posting a few show pics on his Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/surferjoemusic?ref=ts
We are tring to figure out if we can broadcast live video from a show. Anybody know of a website that makes it easy?

Off to Stuttgart

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

Friday is posted... the drama deepens!

http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

Wow! Thanks for playing Pyronauts in Germany! I guess we need to get our lazy butts over there.

Paul

I hope you find a shower Ferenc!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

You know, I could deal with 2 guitarists & 1 bass player not taking a shower, but how could you stand a drummer that couldn't shower!

Saturday's blog is posted.
Thanks for everyone's concern about our hygiene! We did get a shower here== COLD! Sad

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

Sunday & Monday's blog posted:
http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

Last edited: Jul 21, 2009 10:04:50

Way cool stories..Thanks!

www.northofmalibu.com

PolloGuitar
Sunday & Monday's blog posted:
http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

Forgot to mention that I go to hang out with Ralf from The Kilaueas and Martin Schmidt from The Razorblades. It's great to meet all these SG101 buddies.

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

Tuesday's blog is now posted. Nice location for last nights show- under the stars with a cool breeze blowing.

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

looking forward to reading the next installment.

www.surfintheeye.com

Great stuff Ferenc!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Thanks for the blog, Ferenc. A fun read...

Don

Just got caught up on Ferenc's blog!

http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Brian
Just got caught up on Ferenc's blog!
http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

I still have to post Sunday's entry, then I will go back and add photos to the whole thing. Thanks for reading!

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

PolloGuitar

PolloGuitar
Sunday & Monday's blog posted:
http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

Forgot to mention that I go to hang out with Ralf from The Kilaueas and Martin Schmidt from The Razorblades. It's great to meet all these SG101 buddies.

My buddies! Did you get a new Mod-style Razorblades T-shirt? I just got mine yesterday, and a patch, a button and a keychain. Talk about Merch! I was stoked seeing a photo of a woman wearing my orange Kilaueas shirt.

Stormtiger

PolloGuitar

PolloGuitar
Sunday & Monday's blog posted:
http://pdmeurope2009.blogspot.com/

Forgot to mention that I go to hang out with Ralf from The Kilaueas and Martin Schmidt from The Razorblades. It's great to meet all these SG101 buddies.

My buddies! Did you get a new Mod-style Razorblades T-shirt? I just got mine yesterday, and a patch, a button and a keychain. Talk about Merch! I was stoked seeing a photo of a woman wearing my orange Kilaueas shirt.

sorry for off topic,
Doug,
that was Nelli, she's the wife of Marcus(aka Ehriee) who runs the German surf music forum.
they were here a couple years ago, for their honeymoon,
and they are great people.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

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